Letter 5027: VARIAE, BOOK 5, LETTER 27

[1] The custom of royal generosity reminds us that we must bestow the customary gifts upon our Goths. Accordingly, your Devotion is to notify the millenarii [Gothic unit commanders, each responsible for roughly a thousand warriors] of the province of Picenum and Samnium without any delay, so that those who receive the annual bounty of our clemency may hasten to court to collect their donative. Those who have served us well may look forward to even greater generosity. [2] A man who knows he must present himself before his sovereign had better live blamelessly: praise follows the good, complaints follow the wicked. It is also fitting that we use this occasion to examine each man's record, so that no one's battlefield deeds go unrewarded. If the army merely expects its customary allowance and nothing more, neglect will kill the will to fight. Let the man who cannot recall having done anything brave tremble when he comes before his judge -- for he will face our displeasure far better if he has already proven himself boldly against the enemy.